Low Mercury Products

The development of the “minimal mercury” classification began in the kitchen of Bill and Margaret Carvalho. They are avid consumers of our premium, canned coastal Albacore. Along with their three children, Benjamin, Katie and Sarah, they were using over 200 cans annually. Recent press releases warning of the dangers of methyl mercury in tuna prompted Bill to investigate the safety of his family’s tuna supply. His goal was to assure that the albacore they consumed was the safest possible. Here is what he did.

As the 2003 albacore season began, Bill consulted with the Carvalho Fisheries’ in-house quality assurance and FDA compliance staff, headed by David Weston, retired California State FDA Inspector. They embarked on a testing program in which they systematically sent samples of albacore tuna of different sizes and year classes to a private laboratory. This was done in California, Oregon and Washington. Results proved to be as suspected: Young Albacore have consistently lower mercury content than do older, larger fish. This is because they have not experienced as much mercury bio-accumulation through many years of feeding.

The size and age criteria used were aimed at producing tuna products with “minimal mercury” content. The line was drawn at 0.3 parts-per-million (ppm) or less since that would put it lower than most all other seafood deemed low in mercury, like Cod, Halibut, Crab, etc. (for comparative testing results for mercury in fish see cfsan / fda website.) A 0.3 ppm maximum level makes our certified albacore one of the safest fish available. The Albacore products receiving the Carvalho Certified, “minimal mercury” classification, achieve the test result of 0.3 ppm. That is less than 1/3rd the allowable FDA standard.

The fish is separated into size and age classes at Carvalho Fisheries' docks. We only use three year old fish for our “minimal mercury” classification. Commercially harvested albacore range in age from three to 12 years old. Since we deal in such large volumes of fish, we can build up significant quantities of three year old fish in order to offer them to the public. While there is some variance in the mercury test results of even three year class fish, they are within the 0.3 ppm cap. However, the average of our test results for our “minimal mercury” product is 0.15 ppm. That is one 1/6 the FDA action level.

A recent testing survey by the Mercury Policy Project of canned albacore on U.S. grocery store shelves, revealed that one can in twenty exceeds the FDA action level of 1.0 ppm mercury.

Where does the rest of the fish landed at Carvalho Fisheries docks go? Some of the highest quality four year old fish go into our regular Coastal Albacore canned pack. These fish test below the 0.5 ppm mercury action level standards of Canada and the European Union. The rest of our catch, millions of pounds, is exported primarily to Spain for canning and distribution throughout Europe.

Carvalho Fisheries is pleased to offer the following Certified “minimal mercury” Albacore tuna products.

• 7.5 oz.can with sea salt added. (This canned Albacore is raw packed and cooked only once. The liquid in the can is the natural juice and oil from the albacore itself. Mix it back for the best flavor.)
• Alder smoked Albacore loin chunks.
• Frozen, boneless, vacuum-sealed, all white meat Albacore loins.